Windmill on Sin Hill
Windmill on Sin Hill is the third short story in Act 1 of The Yellow Butterflies. It debuts the character of Inspector Julian Asker as he explores the case of missing people in the village of Sycamore Mill. A PDF of the current version can be found here. The following sections contain spoilers. Read at your own risk. Plot Summary Inspector Julian Asker arrives at Sycamore Mill to investigate a number of missing persons. After finding nothing, he visits the run-down windmill on Salt Hill, dubbed Sin Hill by the villagers. An old woman referred to as Grandmother greets him, and invited him inside for tea. Shortly after entering, Asker is clubbed to unconsciousness by a young boy in Grandmother's care. Asker awakens in a boiler room, tied to some pipes, and the young boy, Ethan, attempts to drug him with a syringe. Breaking free, Asker scalds the boy's face and his own shoulder with steam from a broken pipe, before fleeing further into the mill, determined to solve the case. He wanders into a corridor which he soon realises is lined with cages containing skinned, faceless humans, before being tased by another man. Again, Asker awakens, restrained to an upright table with his captor, Logan, preparing tools. Logan makes it clear that he intends to remove Asker's face. In an attempt to flee, Asker breaks his bindings on one arm with much pain to himself, but is stabbed in the shoulder by Logan; he then detaches his prosthetic foot and kicks Logan, causing him to flee. Asker goes to leave, intending to get backup, but is ambushed by both Logan and Ethan, pushed down many stairs until he again falls unconscious. When he awakens again, ''he is being carried by Logan and Ethan. He remarks briefly on their shoddy teamwork, apologises half-heartedly to Ethan for scalding his face, then passes out. He awakens again, in a cage above a well in a bloody, round room. After initially being transfixed by the room he is in, he jolts back to reality and attemps to escape. Grandmother, Ethan, Logan, and another man (Patrick) are present. Asker is lowered into the well. In the well, he breaks through the cage, but finds himself on a soft, fleshy surface. He notices fingers and realises to his horror that he is standing upon a giant hand. Before it can grab him, he scales the well's walls, attacking Patrick when he looks down. The four men fight until a tremor shakes the room and they break off their seperate ways. Asker is put into a bed and the tremors are eventually quelled. Grandmother explains to Asker that they appease the hand-creature beneath the windmill by feeding it 'truth', as stripping away the prey's face makes them more truthful before sacrifice. They fear that if they do not feed the creature, it will feed itself, destroying Sycamore Mill and perhaps worse. Horrified and dissatisfied, Asker eventually leaves Sycamore Mill, changed and shaken. Later, in Manning's Meats, it is revealed that he resigned from his job as a detective inspector following the event. Characters * '''Inspector Julian Asker' - The protagonist. An inspector investigating disappearances in the area. Very by-the-books but is unravelled and shaken by his experience on Sin Hill. * 'Grandmother '- The matriarch of the 'family' living in the windmill. An elderly woman who lures Asker in and later explains the purpose of their actions. * 'Ethan '- The first of the 'siblings' Asker meets. A doe-like young man, very nervous and neurotic, but eventually becomes violent during the fight with Asker near the story's final act. * 'Logan '- The second 'sibling'. Snake-like and sharp, very talkative and somewhat sly. Skins the sacrificial victims' faces but is implied to not entirely enjoy it. * 'Patrick '- The third, eldest 'sibling'. A huge, mute man who performs the final stages of the ritual and protects Grandmother when Asker becomes aggressive. * 'Hand-Beast '- A huge hand beneath Sin Hill that must be fed. Trivia * The names of Ethan, Logan and Patrick refer to the three modes of persuasion: ethos, logos and pathos. ** Later, in Clusby and Gray, Logan refers to a fourth 'sibling' - Charlie. This refers to an element often parodically referred to as the fourth mode of persuasion - chaos. Category:Written Pieces Category:Rhiannon H works Category:Stories in The Yellow Butterflies